The best time to prepare your office IT for a hurricane is in May, when the sky is clear and nobody is in a hurry. This checklist covers what to do before the season, when a storm is forecast, and after it passes, so your team can keep working and your data stays protected.

Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30. Most seasons, Southwest Florida offices deal with nothing worse than a few afternoon power blips and a closed day or two. Still, a single storm can mean a building you can't get into, a week without reliable power, or an internet provider that's out longer than anyone expected. The steps below don't take long, and most of them pay off during an ordinary summer thunderstorm too.

Print this page, assign each item to a person, and put a date next to it. A checklist with names on it gets done. One without names becomes a nice intention.

Before the season: May or early June

Backups and data

• Confirm what is being backed up. Servers, cloud apps such as Microsoft 365, line-of-business software databases, and any files that still live on individual computers. Ask your IT provider for the list rather than assuming.
• Test a restore. A backup only matters if you can get files back from it. Pick a real folder or a server and restore it to a test location. Note how long it took.
• Make sure at least one copy lives offsite. A backup drive sitting next to the server in the same building protects you from a failed disk, not from a flooded office.
• Know your recovery targets. How much data could you afford to re-enter, and how long could you be without each system? Our article on RTO and RPO explains how to set those numbers, and backup and disaster recovery (BDR/BCDR) covers how the pieces fit together.

Remote access

• Have each person test working from home. Can they reach email, files, the practice management or accounting system, and the phones from their home internet? Find the gaps now, not on the morning the office is closed.
• Check that multi-factor authentication works on personal phones and that nobody depends on a token or code that only exists at the office.
• Confirm laptops are current on updates and that remote access or VPN software is installed and signs in correctly.

People and communication

• Build a contact list and call tree. Personal cell numbers and personal email addresses for every employee, plus key vendors, your landlord, your insurance agent and your bank. Keep a copy somewhere other than the office server, such as a printed sheet and a shared cloud file.
• Write down how to reach NerdSquad. Phone (239) 465-0079, email, and the support portal. Make sure more than one person in the office knows how to open a ticket.
• Record your internet provider's outage line and account number. When the line is down, you won't be able to look it up online.
• Plan your phone forwarding. Decide where the main number should ring if the office is closed: a manager's cell phone, a group of cell phones, or an after-hours message. With a cloud phone system this is usually a quick setting change. If you're not sure how yours works, our business VoIP phone systems page explains the options.

Power and hardware

• Test UPS batteries. Battery backup units wear out, usually within a few years. Run a self-test or ask your IT provider to check them. A UPS with a dead battery is just an expensive power strip.
• Check surge protection on every workstation, printer and network device. Lightning-related surges are common in Southwest Florida summers, storm or no storm.
• Take an equipment inventory. Make, model and serial number for computers, servers, network gear, phones and printers, plus photos of each area of the office. Store it in the cloud.
• Note what sits on the floor. Servers, network racks, UPS units and computer towers on the floor are the first things water reaches. If you can move them up permanently, do it now.

When a storm is forecast

Once a storm is in the forecast cone and your office plans to close, work through this list on the last business day. Leave more time than you think you need.

1. Run final backups and confirm they completed. Check the backup report, not just the schedule.
2. Install pending updates and shut down gracefully. Restart workstations to finish updates, then shut down computers and servers properly rather than letting a power cut do it. If NerdSquad manages your servers, coordinate the shutdown with us.
3. Unplug equipment. Unplug computers, monitors, printers and network gear from the wall. Surge protectors help, but unplugged is better.
4. Raise equipment off the floor. Move towers, UPS units and anything else you can onto desks or shelves, away from windows.
5. Cover equipment with plastic. Plastic sheeting or large trash bags over desktop equipment and network racks help with leaks and wind-driven rain.
6. Send laptops home. Everyone who has a laptop takes it, along with the charger. Confirm they can sign in from home before they leave.
7. Forward the main phone line to the cell phones you chose during planning, and update your voicemail greeting with how clients can reach you.
8. Tell clients how to reach you. A short email, a website banner or a social media post with your closure dates and the best way to contact your team.

After the storm

Safety first

Don't go back into the building until authorities say it's safe and your landlord or building manager has checked the structure and electrical system. Equipment can be replaced. People can't.

Inspect before you power up

• Do not turn on anything that got wet or sat in standing water, even if it looks dry. Powering up wet electronics can destroy them and create a shock or fire hazard. Photograph it for your insurance claim and set it aside for your IT provider to assess.
• Make sure power is stable. If the building is running on a generator or power keeps flickering, wait before bringing servers online.

Bring systems up in order

1. Network first: internet modem, firewall, switches and WiFi.
2. Servers next: once the network is up, start servers and confirm key applications open.
3. Workstations: then computers, printers and other devices.
4. Phones: check desk phones register, then switch the main line back from cell forwarding.

If anything doesn't come back cleanly, stop and call us rather than trying repeated restarts. Our article on what happens during an IT emergency or system outage explains how we handle it.

Check your backups

Confirm that backups ran during the closure and that the first backup after restart completes. If a system was offline for days, it may need attention before it catches up.

Watch for storm-related scams

Scammers follow disasters. In the weeks after a storm, expect emails, texts and calls that claim to come from FEMA, your insurance company, a contractor or one of your regular vendors. Common signs: urgent requests to "verify" account details, new payment instructions, links to claim forms on unfamiliar websites, and attachments you weren't expecting. Verify any change in payment details by calling a number you already have on file. Our guide on how to spot a phishing email is worth sharing with your team before the season starts.

Remote work readiness

If your office might be closed for several days, remote work is your continuity plan. A quick readiness check:

• Every person who needs to work remotely has a company laptop, or a secured home computer approved for work use.
• Files and key applications are reachable from outside the office, through cloud services or a secure remote connection.
• Staff know how to answer the main line or check voicemail from a mobile phone app.
• There's a backup internet option for key people, such as a phone hotspot, in case home internet is out too.
• Someone is responsible for checking in with each employee and confirming they're safe before anyone asks about work.

How NerdSquad helps

As your Managed Service Provider (MSP), NerdSquad can review this checklist with you before the season: check backup coverage and test restores, confirm remote access works for each person, review UPS and surge protection, set up phone forwarding rules, and document your shutdown and startup order. For Naples-area offices, see our managed backup service in Naples for how we handle backups locally. The goal is a calm, practiced plan, so storm prep becomes a routine task on the calendar instead of a scramble.

Talk to NerdSquad

Already a client? Call (239) 465-0079 or submit a ticket. If something is down, call so we can start right away.

Not a client yet? NerdSquad Managed IT Services is a Managed Service Provider (MSP) based in Naples, Florida. We support businesses onsite across Southwest Florida and remotely nationwide. Book a discovery call or call (239) 465-0079.

Related: backup and disaster recovery